Thank you NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for the ARC of this audiobook for my honest review

This took me a while to get through, I didn’t want to finish it. The interview with the author at the very end was probably my favorite part because the rest was just a fever dream. I’m probably the wrong person for this book as there’s deeper meanings to a lot of what was said that I just couldn’t grasp but I think for most people it’s a bit much. It feels like everything was chucked into this mess of a story. I never read blurbs so I can get surprises but I had to read it for this one and I still didn’t understand anything. So yes I do not recommend.

This was a very bizarre experience and I say this with all the love possible, fans of William Pauley III, will enjoy this book as much as I did, reminds very much of bedlam bible and the sarcastic humour is very similar, just that in dead souls we have a bit of “adult” situations in a more dry and mater of the fact situations…

if you ask me what did I just read/listened to, let me just point one thing, I did like it, but it was like a dazed dream, it has so many twists and turns.

I got to listen to the audiobook and that made my experience better, I just wish we had two people reading, one for female voices and one for male, Kenneth Lee did his best, but I still missed having a woman reading, female parts..

Thank you NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio, for the free AAC and this is my honest opinion.

I quite enjoyed this story. The narrator did a terrific job with reading the story.

It has great character building. Sometimes, relatable. Some characters are frustrating, but I think that adds to the character development. Without the ups and downs, and the "why??" parts of the characters, it wouldn't have held my attention.

The world, though, that was awesome. All throughout the story, I was intrigued with where this place was heading.

So many characters, but never any confusion on what was happening and to whom.

#NetGalley #DeadSouls

Thank you NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for the ARC.

I am a hardcore Sci-Fi fan and I love reading books from other cultures, hearing different voices. Something not cliche, not predictable and a bit memorable. This book is definitely different from all the repetitive same story same character same voice best sellers these days.

This is Yang Wei’s story, he wakes up to the patients revolution against the cruel doctors and nurses in the dead soul pool and is saved by a doctor that remind him of his daughter. His father once a doctor and the hospital’s director is now the rebels leader. Patients are looking for the device that cures all sickness so they can escape their inevitable end.

The story is told in second person, which makes it whimsical and surreal. It is explained and scenes are mostly monologue. It makes all the horrendous rape and cannibalism and killing and suicide scenes more like news headlines and less disturbing.

Or it shows how violence and cruelty becomes normal when they happen all the time, maybe explaining how doctors are numb to patient’s pains.

It goes through the philosophy of medicine and healing, from Jesus as the healer who brought people back from death, to the yellow Emperor and Buddha, from Placebo effect and hospital’s need for new patients to survive and Doctors becoming patients to keep the hospital running, to reincarnation, to going back to the origin and fixing bacteria’s before evolution.

It is not a fast read, the audio narration is good.

I can’t say everyone would enjoy this book or it is fun, but it is different and it’s nice to read something different.

Han Song’s Dead Souls is a surreal and haunting exploration of madness, identity, and the grotesque, offering a fittingly chaotic conclusion to the Hospital series. As I listened to the audiobook provided by the publishers, I found myself completely immersed in the nightmarish world of Mars Hospital, thanks in large part to the exceptional narration.

The story follows Yang Wei as he awakens in a dystopian hospital where monstrous doctors reign, patients are trapped in a relentless cycle of death and resurrection in the Pool of Dead Souls, and rebellion simmers beneath the surface. The narrator captures Yang Wei’s growing paranoia and fractured sense of reality with a haunting intensity. Each character, from the unhinged doctors to the desperate patients, is given a distinct voice, amplifying the grotesque absurdity of the hospital’s descent into madness.

Han Song’s vivid prose, full of stark imagery and absurd humor, is enhanced by the narration, which effortlessly shifts between tones of horror, despair, and dark irony. The revolt of the patients, the chaos of the hospital, and Yang Wei’s existential doubts all feel disturbingly alive in the narrator’s hands. The cadence and inflection pull listeners into the story’s claustrophobic atmosphere, making it impossible to turn away from the horror unfolding in Yang Wei’s world.

Dead Souls is not a straightforward tale. Its surrealism and fragmented narrative demand careful attention, but the audiobook format helps ground the reader, guiding them through Han Song’s labyrinthine exploration of the human psyche. The narrator’s performance adds an emotional depth to the story, making the absurdities and horrors feel viscerally real.

For listeners who appreciate speculative fiction that challenges perceptions of reality and identity, Dead Souls offers a deeply unsettling yet rewarding experience. Han Song’s grotesque vision is brought to life in a way that will linger long after the final word. This audiobook is a must-listen for fans of absurdist fiction and dystopian horror.